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Presenting diverse viewpoints and topics, this collection includes the following sections:Part I presents a background on the study of cultural evolution. Part II deals with the evolution of complex societies in the tropics of South America. Part III discusses stage sequences and directionality in cultural evolution. Part IV examines the role of prime movers in cultural evolution. Part V discusses diversity and change.

El taller Procesos Sociales Prehispánicos en los Andes Meridionales, celebrado en Tilcara entre el 3 y el 5 de agosto de 2005, reunió alrededor de doscientos arqueólogos que trabajan en Argentina, Chile y Bolivia con el propósito de reflexionar sobre estos temas. El presente volumen contiene 17 del medio centenar de trabajos allí presentados y discutidos. El taller Procesos Sociales Prehispánicos en los Andes Meridionales, celebrado en Tilcara entre el 3 y el 5 de agosto de 2005, reunió alrededor de doscientos arqueólogos que trabajan en Argentina, Chile y Bolivia con el propósito de reflexionar sobre estos temas. El presente volumen contiene 17 del medio centenar de trabajos allí presentados y discutidos. Todos ellos fueron evaluados por árbitros externos y revisados por sus autores para esta publicación. Los artículos han sido ordenados de acuerdo con la escala espacial y social de los fenómenos que abordan, comenzando por aquellos que privilegian el estudio del ámbito doméstico, pasando por la comunidad y culminando con aquellos que incorporan diversos elementos que comprometen a colectividades en un marco regional.

Despite the obvious geographic importance of eastern Asia in human migration, its discussion in the context of the emergence and dispersal of modern humans has been rare. Emergence and Diversity of Modern Human Behavior in Paleolithic Asia focuses long-overdue scholarly attention on this under-studied area of the world. Arising from a 2011 symposium sponsored by the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, this book gathers the work of archaeologists from the Pacific Rim of Asia, Australia, and North America, to address the relative lack of attention given to the emergence of modern human behavior as manifested in Asia during the worldwide dispersal from Africa.

The evolution of complex cultural systems is marked by a number of broad, sweeping patterns that characterize many different cultures at different points in time across the globe. Over the course of the past 100,000 years, there has been a general evolutionary trend for cultural systems to get larger and more complex. A consistent element in the broad course of cultural evolu­ tion has been the emergence and subsequent development of centralized forms of political organization. The record of the first modern humans illuminates a global wide pat­ tern of relative social equality and decentralized deciSion-making processes. Prior to about 10,000 years ago, there are no indications of clear social, political, or economic hierarchies. In these early millennia archaeological markers of social ranking are lacking and there is a similar absence of evidence pointing to the presence of leaders, chiefs or rulers. The pattern of social equality began to change at different moments and at different rates in various parts of the world in the course of the last 10,000 years. In some areas, such as Mesopotamia, politically centralized hierarchies emerged very early and developed rapidly, while in others, such as the Arctic, political centralization never emerged outside the context of Western colonialism. In every culture area, the origins and development of politically cen­ tralized social systems and the emergence of leaders and rulers followed a unique evolutionary trajectory depending on local history and environment.

El taller Procesos Sociales Prehispánicos en los Andes Meridionales, celebrado en Tilcara entre el 3 y el 5 de agosto de 2005, reunió alrededor de doscientos arqueólogos que trabajan en Argentina, Chile y Bolivia con el propósito de reflexionar sobre estos temas. El presente olumen contiene 17 del medio centenar de trabajos presentados y discutidos en esa oportunidad. El taller Procesos Sociales Prehispánicos en los Andes Meridionales, celebrado en Tilcara entre el 3 y el 5 de agosto de 2005, reunióalrededor de doscientos arqueólogos que trabajan en Argentina, Chile y Bolivia con el propósito de reflexionar sobre estos temas. El presente volumen contiene 17 del medio centenar de trabajos presentados y discutidos en esa oportunidad. Todos ellos fueron evaluados por árbitros externos y revisados por sus autores para esta publicación. Los artículos aquí reunidos se aproximan a las relaciones

The nature of power - one of the central concerns in social science - is the main theme of this wide-ranging book. Introducing a much broader historical and geographical comparative understanding of domination and resistance than is available elsewhere, the editors and contributors offer a wealth of perspectives and case studies. They illustrate the application of these ideas to issues as diverse as ritualized space, the nature of hierarchy in non-capitalist contexts and the production of archaeological discourse. Drawing on considerable experience in promoting interaction between archaeology and other disciplines concerned with ideology, power and social transformation, the editors have brought together a stimulating book that will be of widespread interest amongst students of archaeology, ancient history, sociology, anthropology and human geography.